Nokia catapults mobile business voice into the Internet era

Company introduces the Nokia E51 device and reveals Mobile Unified Communications strategy to further improve employee productivity and cost-savings through business mobility

London, UK - At an Enterprise Mobility Day event today, Nokia further executed on its commitment to drive the adoption of business mobility by addressing the needs of business users and business managers. The company introduced the Nokia E51, a business smartphone, the latest addition in the Nokia Eseries portfolio, and also showcased it within the context of Nokia mobile unified communications, its strategy for extending mobility to unified communications.

In a press conference at the event, Antti Vasara, senior vice president, Mobile Devices, Enterprise Solutions spoke of the human and business trends driving the need for mobility solutions, and the Internet as the common hub. Mr. Vasara noted that the line between personal and business use of mobile technology is increasingly blurred and consumer requirements continue to drive mobile technology innovation and adoption. Nokia is delivering on its vision of the mobile world in which business users have the same ease of mobility in their professional lives as they enjoy in their personal lives. Yet a gap between meeting end user demand and achieving recognizable business benefit has historically hampered more strategic adoption of mobile solutions by companies.

“We see a significant opportunity to fill the ’mobility gap,’ enabling business users to collaborate, communicate, and operate from anywhere, easily and affordably,” said Vasara. “Whereas companies have invested significantly in information technology (IT) and traditional unified communications, Nokia is now delivering solutions that extend those investments by bringing mobility to unified communications.”

For example, with the new Nokia E51 and other dual-mode Nokia Eseries devices supporting both broadband cellular and wireless LAN (WLAN) connectivity, users can now experience the power of a single device that can handle all of their business and personal communications needs, while also reaping the benefits of fixed and mobile unified communications. Nokia Eseries devices such as Nokia E51, Nokia E61i, Nokia E65, and Nokia E90 Communicator are optimized to integrate seamlessly with corporate telephony systems and with Nokia Mobile Unified Communications solutions such as Nokia Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco and Nokia Intellisync Call Connect for Alcatel-Lucent. These solutions enable users to experience the power of handling all of their communications -- including desk phone calling features such as extension dialing, call hold, transfer, and conferencing -- on a single mobile device. The solutions enable mobile users to take advantage of least cost routing through the company PBX to place calls over WLAN networks to reduce overall costs of monthly wireless minutes and international connection charges.

“Nokia Intellisync Call Connect for Cisco with Nokia Eseries was the ideal answer to our needs. As a solution with an all-in-one device, it simply can’t be beat. Our employees can now work much more flexibly. They only need to carry one device with them to make phone calls and to manage their address books and calendars,” says Wolfgang Senoner, head of IT, Omicron. “This has increased the availability of our staff, and they are able to be reminded of appointments ahead of time.”

Nokia E51 is part of the Nokia Eseries portfolio of business optimized devices that support companies’ business mobility strategies by protecting their investments in workforce mobility. Joining the ranks of Nokia E90 Communicator, Nokia E61i and Nokia E65, the Nokia E51 device enables business users to collaborate, communicate, and operate whether they are conducting business from their offices, working remotely or traveling - while also keeping in touch with their personal lives.

The combination of Nokia Eseries devices, Nokia Intellisync mobileware platform, and Nokia Mobile Unified Communications solutions significantly increases potential for businesses to achieve new levels of productivity and competitive advantage. It also presents opportunities for operators, service providers and systems integrators to drive subscriber growth and technology adoption.

In addition to leading the way with voice-related solutions, Nokia has continued to expand the opportunity for end users and companies of all sizes to access mobile email through its Nokia Intellisync Mobile Suite. Now, more than 40 operators around the globe have taken advantage of the Nokia Intellisync Mobile Suite to offer email solutions to their customers, with more than 3.6 million user licenses. Nokia Intellisync Mobile Suite offers flexible deployment models -- behind the firewall, hosted or white-label - to suit different business needs.

A webcast of the presentation on Nokia E51 and Nokia Mobile Unified Communications strategy and offerings from Mr. Vasara’s keynote address at the press conference is available at www.nokia.com/press/enterpriseday after 3:30 p.m. Central European Time on Tuesday, 18th September.